As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale Manga Volume 1 by Beatrice Bassoli, Francesca Siviero, Chiara Bracale (Illustrator)

An alternate take on Disney classic goes down a dark path in As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale Manga. Belle longs to escape her provincial town to find adventure, but her father won’t leave. He’s waiting for her mother to return – a mother Belle can’t remember. But when Belle’s father is taken prisoner by a terrifying Beast, she offers to take his place to save his life. Belle finds the Beast’s enchanted rose, and when she touches it, images flood her mind with memories of the mother she believed she would never see again. Stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the Enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast must work together to unravel a dark mystery about their families.

Originally a novel published in 2016 by Liz Braswell, As Old As Time is part of Disney’s Twisted Tales line of What If style line of stories where legendary Disney tales are given a twist. In this case, the all-time classic 1991 film Beauty and The Beast was taken in a different direction with the question “What if Belle’s mother cursed the Beast?” Now this Twisted Tale gets interpreted in a new way in this manga style adaptation.

The story conceit gives the series several of intriguing directions to go down, including exploring the character of the Enchantress further and showing some of the other actions she committed to those who wronged her. Tying her directly to Belle also gives Belle some extra depth to her already deep character as her parents were very much an untouched mystery in the original film.

This is an imprint that Disney have handled with a lot of care including when it comes to selecting the creative talent. This extends to this manga as well where it could’ve been very easy to produce something safe and unimaginative. But the creative team have managed to keep the core identity of these classic characters whilst bringing some authentic manga artwork to proceedings. The Beast is closest to his classic form whilst most of the other characters get the manga treatment. Belle – whilst definitely recognisable – has the vibes of a shojo heroin whilst Maurice benefits from the kooky old man archetype that has been a trope in many a manga. The art team of Chiara Bracale and Rossella Gentile deserve a lot of credit for bringing this style to the story successfully. Their work flits between lighter and darker moments in a non-intrusive way and their character designs and settings go a long way in establishing this world.

Disney fans will highly approve of this new take on Beauty and The Beast which infuses the story with a manga energy and takes the characters in a darker direction. A worthy chapter in the Twisted Tales line-up.